Every Race is unique.
Even teammates have completely unique Race experiences.
We are told to drop expectations.
Still, I expected that I would never see a Westernized country for 11 months.
I ended up in Vienna, Austria for 6 days.
You see, I’ve been fighting for about 4 months to get my India visa. India is month 4 on my route, and come month 3 we had one last shot to get it. In Romania (my 3rd country in my route) you have to be Romanian to get an India visa at the consulate there. This meant that I was to be sent to Vienna, Austria to get it along with my squad leader who also needed to get his visa.
Vienna was beautiful, expensive, rainy, and cold (at least to me). I got to see and experience some really cool things, like visiting Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, and other famous composers’ graves and listening to a free concert in St. Peter’s cathedral (there were speaking parts that were all in German, so I didn’t understand it, but the music was beautiful). I almost missed out on enjoying it though.
I was once again separated from my team and from my ministry. I also had just been in a major car accident and hadn’t been able to really see my team (except over Skype) since it happened. I missed my team and squad family terribly and was missing out on basically 1/3 to 1/2 a month of ministry (for the second month in a row). I came on this trip to pursue God and to do work. I don’t want my Race to look like a vacation, and I felt almost guilty for going to Vienna.
But there was nothing I could do about it, and I had to accept it as a gift from God. Once I realized that I could accept this as a blessing, a gift, an outpouring of God’s love I could see the big and little things that God was doing to show me His love.
Vienna is full of beautiful buildings, including some awesome Gothic cathedrals, and I love Gothic architecture. Just wandering around the city was inspiring. The cathedrals especially because the ornate and intricate designs and décor were inspired by God. Even if you think that it’s all superfluous, you can appreciate that so much work was put into a building to glorify God. I got to wander around a HUGE cemetery on an overcast/rainy day, and it was absolutely wonderful. One night we met a couple from the US at a restaurant and found out that they were related to missionaries in Estonia, and they decided to pay for our food. I found Dr. Pepper. The free concert mentioned earlier just elated me. I miss listening to symphonic music (I more miss playing it but I didn’t have room for my clarinet in my pack), and just being able to sit back and listen to the beautifully balanced chords and the crescendos and decrescendos of the music adding drama to the Bible story they were reading in German filled my heart with joy. Even getting to stick my toe in the Danube River and wandering around a really random theme park made me feel loved.
As much as I felt the need to be actively working, God wanted something different for me this month. He decided that He wanted to pull me away and force me to accept His gifts, and God has been working on teaching me to accept love from Him and others since I was stuck in Bulgaria for 10 days. He is faithful to outpour His love on us in every situation, from giving joy in the midst of a major car accident, to the small things that make my soul soar while wandering the streets of Vienna.
AND I finally got my India visa, so now I don’t have to worry about being separated from my team and ministry during the month! I get to return to my squad rejuvenated and ready to work in India.
